Christchurch hottest in NZ

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Christchurch was the hottest place in the country at 1.30pm yesterday.

The temperature soared to 29.6 degrees Celsius, with a warm northwesterly wind flowing across the city.

MetService spokesman Dan Corbett said the city had the highest temperature in the country.

The warm temperatures were caused by humid air being pushed up the western side of the Southern Alps, with the alps "squeezing it dry like a sponge" before the dry air heated up as it flowed down the eastern side towards Christchurch - this was also known as the "foehn effect".

Things would start to cool today, with a chance of patchy rain, before colder southerlies moved in tomorrow with a period of more widespread rain.

Corbett said today's high would be 21C, but Friday would struggle to reach 16C.